FATE/Dresden Files RPG

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Originally Posted by Michael Hopcroft

Aside from letting you chat and roll dice what does Core do by itself?

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Think of it like pen and paper role playing without a printed character sheet, GM screen with all of the rules specific stuff on it, Printed NPC records specific to a game etc..

CoreRPG allows you to:
- have story entries the GM can share with the players, have links to other story entries, text ready to add to the chat window as a description or NPC speech, etc..
- have map images with grids, mask (fog of war), tokens (visible and invisible to the players), etc.
- image handouts you can share with one or more of the players.
- a free form character sheet for basic info (there's also an extension that expands on the character sheet) which includes attributes with modifiers, inventory and notes page.
- a basic combat tracker for keeping track of the order of acting, etc..
- character portraits and tokens.
- free form NPC sheet where you can enter rolls of the form <dice>+<modifier>, e.g. Sword attack 1d20+3, and this will allow the GM to double click on the entry to auto roll 1d20+3.
- encounter entries with token pre-placement.
- free form item sheet including item identification.
- item/treasure parcels and auto assignment to players via the party sheet.
- tables for random generation of all sorts of info.
- calendar
- free form effects.
- notes for players and GMs
- library functionality.
- the ability to put most of the above into modules for future re- use.
- tower dice rolling (GM sees the roll, players don't).
- roll modifiers

As I said, basically all of the FG functionality but without the game rules specific details and automation. CoreRPG should allow a GM to run most games just like they were sitting at the table with their players - they have to ask the players to roll for something, the player rolls (everyone can see the rolls unless they are in the tower) adds any modifiers and tells the GM the result (or they could use the modifiers box to add modifiers before the roll), the GM determines the result of the roll and acts on it. That should be a familiar process to all people who have played RPGs face to face around a table top - FG is providing the virtual table top around which to play. CoreRPG also provides a lot of the extra non game rules specific features that make GMing easier (as listed above) and the player experience better.

Load up a test campaign with CoreRPG and have a play around... :)

I fully intend to. Looks like this will enable me to do something new, fresh, and wacky at FG Con. Of course, I'll need some practice before then.

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Originally Posted by Michael Hopcroft

I really should ask someone to fill me in on how to GM on-the-fly using the Core system. For when you don't have time to find a ruleset and want to play something new and unique in a setting like an online con.

Aside from letting you chat and roll dice what does Core do by itself?

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Interesting question. In addition to what you mentioned and Trenloe mentioned, the other thing CoreRPG does is a bit counter-intuitive for an on-the-fly situation. It provides easy automation of repeated dice rolls via the hotkey bar.

Generally, one of the biggest advantage a full ruleset provides is the automation of common rolls and other tasks, typically by clicking or double clicking on something. (The other thing they do, not important for this discussion, is they provide easy access to reference material). Specific rulesets also have the hotkey bar but the more automation the ruleset provides, the less the hotkey bar tends to be used.

In the generic situation the hotkey bar becomes much more useful. You can make up to 96 hotkeys (hold down Shift, Ctrl and Alt in different combos) and can put dice rolls, dice modifiers, tokens and links in each one. For example lets say the GM needs to roll 3d6 for an attack. You can quickly click and hold a d6 to put one on your curser and while still holding down the left mouse button right click twice to get 3d6 on your curser. Instead of throwing the 3d6 into the chat box you can drop them on the hotkey bar. Then you can just click the bar or press the corresponding Fkey to roll the 3d6. Alternatively, you could just type /die 3d6 Blaster in the chat entry and then drag and drop the text onto a hotkey and then press the appropriate hotkey or click it to roll the dice.

For players, this is also really useful since character rolls rarely change over the course of an adventure. For the GM you can take a few minutes before the game and set up rolls you know you are going to need. However even if you do it on-the-fly it is very fast to set up the monster attacks/damage rolls for an encounter and this can really speed up combat and other dice rolling for the GM.

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Originally Posted by Valarian

There's a ruleset in the FG Wiki that I've used to play several Dresden Files/FATE games. Is this the one you're using? If so, what errors or problems have you had? I've not come across any issues with the ruleset in use.

It's been updated recently (last 3 months or so) to include NPC and combat tracker.
https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/i.../Dresden_Files

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Valarian, I've been familiarizing myself with your very nice Dresden Files and Fate Core rulesetsand seem to be experiencing trouble last night with image resizing in DF. Is that ruleset not updated for FG 3.x.x? Understandable if you/others haven't had the time.

As a learning exercise, I'm hoping to GM one or more one-shot sample adventures from DFRPG, and I'm trying to determine whether I should use your DF ruleset or convert them to Fate Core and run them there. (Would require some translation of the PCs and NPCs for two stress tracks, powers, etc, but could work fine.) What do you recommend?

As a side note to echo others on this thread, I'm learning about both Fate and DF for the first time from postings by you fellow gamers... Quite intrigued so far.

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Originally Posted by Hector Trelane

Valarian, I've been familiarizing myself with your very nice Dresden Files and Fate Core rulesetsand seem to be experiencing trouble last night with image resizing in DF. Is that ruleset not updated for FG 3.x.x?

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Try the "Sizing" instruction here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/...Basics#Windows

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Originally Posted by Hector Trelane

As a learning exercise, I'm hoping to GM one or more one-shot sample adventures from DFRPG, and I'm trying to determine whether I should use your DF ruleset or convert them to Fate Core and run them there. (Would require some translation of the PCs and NPCs for two stress tracks, powers, etc, but could work fine.) What do you recommend?

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I'd stiick with the Dresden Files ruleset for now, until I've had the time to convert this to use the Fate Core ruleset as a base. What time are you looking to run this? I'd be interested in playing if it's a time I can do.

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Originally Posted by Trenloe

Try the "Sizing" instruction here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/...Basics#Windows

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That worked! Thanks Trenloe... (Although I note for some strange reason, some images behave differently than others when resizing: some have a maximum width or height beyond which the window won't expand, while for others the window can expand in either dimension to the entire screen.)

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Originally Posted by Valarian

I'd stiick with the Dresden Files ruleset for now, until I've had the time to convert this to use the Fate Core ruleset as a base. What time are you looking to run this? I'd be interested in playing if it's a time I can do.

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Okay, will use DF. I'd like to build the module and read through the rules over the next month, hope to post a game invite soon thereafter. I'd say your coding work earns you a spot! ;)

One more usage question: I'm having trouble getting character sheets to accept tokens. Is there a trick to that for the Dresden Files ruleset? I've been able to get tokens onto images just fine, but the only token that drags from character portrait in the top left to the Combat Tracker or an image is a mini, low-res version of the portrait. Thanks in advance.

Image windows won't resize beyond their image dimensions unless the image is zoomed. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out. A good process of large images is to resize the image borders to make a smaller window and then use the mouse wheel to zoom the image out to fit one dimension to the image window. You can never zoom out beyond the image limits in the window. If you want to make an image look bigger, zoom in, this will the allow you to resize to the zoomed image limits.

The character sheet doesn't accept tokens. You can use the character portrait as a token, but not the other way around. The portrait is set from the player's side.

Here are the Fate Core sessions I just posted to FG Con 8:

• Tutorial for players brand new to Fate, no prior experience required (doubling as a prequel to the next session); and
• The introductory one-shot scenario, Night Fears, designed for beginning players--and those who enjoy a strong-RP game.

I'm excited to play both these sessions and have found, in preparing for them, that Fate Core's strengths really shine in character-driven narrative and narrative-driven plots. It's deepening my understanding of RP in RPGs, and promise to be interesting runs.